Monday, March 14, 2016

Keep Calm

Keep Calm is Mike
Binder’s debut novel, but it is important to keep in mind that this is not the
first thing that Binder has written.In
addition to being a film director and producer, Binder is also a scriptwriter,
and that experience has greatly influenced the plotting and structure of Keep Calm.This is, in fact, a political thriller that would
very easily transfer to the big screen.

Adam Tate used to be a cop, a good one.Then, in a moment of naïve stupidity, he made
a decision that would ultimately send him to prison.When, upon his release, a lucrative job offer
comes his way, Tate knows that he has to accept it even if he can’t figure out
why the company wants him.Now he finds
himself in London to attend an important business meeting at 10 Downing Street
– and, as a bonus, his grandchildren are going to meet their maternal
grandfather for the first time.Tate,
because he barely understands his new job and has nothing to add to the
conversation, guesses that he has been brought to London for reasons other than
business ones.But it is not until a
bomb explosion critically injures the prime minister shortly after the meeting that
Tate understands exactly why he is there.In an instant, he and his British-born wife, along with their two
children, are running for their lives.

Mike Binder

Mike Binder has created quite a cast of characters here,
including Georgia Turnbull, the young chancellor of the exchequer (and heir
apparent to the injured prime minster) and Davina Steel, the lead investigator
in the assassination attempt.These
women have done well for themselves in a world their gender would have excluded
them from only a few years earlier, and now they have something else in common:
capturing Adam Tate will advance both their careers to even higher peaks.

But all is not what it seems.If Adam Tate is not the rogue terrorist he is
being presented as, who is behind the plot to blow up the prime minister in his
10 Downing Street home?Tate knows part
of the truth, and he suspects even more of it.But can he keep himself and his family alive long enough for Davina
Steel to figure it all out for herself?

Keep Calm is not
the perfect thriller, but its weaknesses, let’s face it, are common to the
genre: stereotypically evil bad guys served by robotic goons who do the killing
– and enjoy it immensely; multiple last-second escapes; heroes who are
repeatedly the only survivors in violent encounters with the bad guys,
etc.But that is the nature of the
beast.Thrillers, almost by definition,
especially conspiracy thrillers, require that the reader be willing to suspend
his normal sense of disbelief.Do that
and you will love this one - and, you might just find it playing at a theater
near you one day in the future.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Net Galley Featured Reviewer

GoodReads Reviews

Comment Policy

If you have a concern about any posting or comment being factually incorrect, please contact us. Please provide details of who you are, how we can contact you, what your interest is, and what your concern is. If something has been written that is factually incorrect, it will be addressed. Anonymous complaints will be ignored.